Boruto Episode 77

Introduction

Before we begin with today’s episode, I’d like to make a correction/addition to last week’s Boruto episode post. I originally said that Garaga reminds me of a Bush Viper, but now that I’ve had another chance to take a look at him, he’s more like a Bush Viper mixed with a King Cobra.

This fact doesn’t change anything about this week’s or last week’s episode, but I felt the need to let you know.

A Fierce Enemy: Garaga’s Ferocious Attack!

This week’s episode was split into two parts: one following Boruto and the gang, and the other following Mitsuki. We first pick up where we left off last week, with the genin fighting against Garaga for his reverse scale, and Chocho becoming petrified in the process.

The gang, and Aoda then continue to fight Garaga for Mitsuki and Chocho’s sake, but are unable to defeat him. After learning that it’s his reverse scale the group are after, Garaga retreats to his hunting grounds deeper within Ryūchi cave.

Since Aoda doesn’t have the strength to continue the fight, it’s up to the four remaining genin to chase after Garaga and finally defeat him. However, in his hunting grounds, Garaga’s scales blend in with the dark colors of the cave walls, rendering him near-invisible.

While the darkness of the cave makes it hard for the genin to see Garaga, he has no trouble seeing them due to his thermal vision. However, Shikadai realizes that this is actually something the group can use to their advantage after noticing that Garaga can’t see Inojin’s Super Beast Scroll jutsu.

Now, at this point you would expect the plan to simply be for Inojin to use his jutsu to take Garaga’s reverse scale without him even noticing what was happening, but apparently Shikadai isn’t smart enough to figure that out. Instead, his plan is to have Boruto just overwhelm Garaga’s senses with his shadow clones, because shadows have a heat signature apparently.

But, just before Boruto’s able to grab the reverse scale, Garaga opens his scarred eye and Boruto is pulled into his consciousness. Here, Boruto is shown Garaga’s past, when he was betrayed by the human whom he had made a pact with.

We learn through this flashback that this betrayal is both the reason why Garaga has a scarred eye and the reason he hates humans, specifically shinobi. He believes that all shinobi are cold, calculated killers just waiting for the chance to betray anyone as long as it suits their needs.

But, since this is Boruto we’re talking about, the power of friendship is able to overcome Garaga’s hatred of humans; at least in a roundabout way. Boruto and Garaga make a wager about whether or not Boruto will be able to convince Mitsuki to come back to the Hidden Leaf.

Garaga believes that it was always Mitsuki’s intent to betray Boruto and his friends, and if he’s correct, Boruto agrees to have himself be killed by Garaga. On the other hand, if Boruto is successful, Garaga doesn’t particularly lose anything, so it’s a pretty easy wager on his part.

In order to be able to witness the outcome of Boruto’s attempt to reclaim Mitsuki, Garaga makes a summoning contract with him, though he explicitly states that it will only last until their wager is complete. Even so, I wouldn’t be surprised if Garaga decides to stay with Boruto in the end as his personal summon.

With his newly formed pact with Garaga, Boruto and the gang head back to the White Snake Sage to hand over the reverse scale. However, they never actually took the reverse scale from Garaga, so Boruto summons him instead as a means to show that he had tamed the beast.

Boruto using the Summoning Jutsu

With their trial complete, the White Snake Sage finally reveals her true form to the genin; a giant, white snake. I had mentioned in a previous post that I didn’t like how the White Snake Sage was no longer a giant snake, but it seems that this was done on purpose.

Now that Boruto has fulfilled his end of the bargain, the White Snake Sage tells the group what the memories of Mitsuki’s snake held, and they appear promising. As we already knew, Mitsuki did indeed partake in the attack on the Leaf guards, but he also protected them from being killed by his co-conspirators, hinting that all is not as it originally seemed.

The other part of the episode which followed Mitsuki was, unsurprisingly, the part I was more interested in. Yes, I found Boruto’s pact with Garaga to be interesting in that it may lead to Boruto keeping a snake summon like his mentor Sasuke, but Mitsuki interests me much more right now.

We finally learn a bit about who Mitsuki’s co-conspirators actually are. We know that one of them uses a detonation clay jutsu just like Deidara from the former Akatsuki, and we know another is proficient in genjutsu. We also know they’re from the Hidden Stone, which matches up with the use of the detonation clay jutsu.

As you should know by now, any time the Boruto series references Shippūden in some way, I’m immediately a fan, so this reference to Deidara has me on the edge of my seat. I can’t wait to find out just how these new characters are related to him if in fact they are.

Since earlier on in the series we learned that Kisame, another former Akatsuki member, actually had a son who Boruto and the gang came in contact with, it’s possible that the leader of these new antagonists is the son of Deidara in the same fashion. However, I’d rather him simply be a disciple of Deidara instead.

As for the enemy who’s proficient in genjutsu, we learn that she had used her jutsu to make one of the chunin who worked as a guard at the Leaf hospital attempt to assassinate the Leaf front gate guard who survived the attack. Luckily, Moegi, Sakura, and specifically Udon, were able to stop him and the jutsu.

Next Episode(?)

I’ll be honest, at the time of writing this post I don’t actually remember what happened in the next episode preview, so instead I’ll briefly mention some things I think are likely to happen going forward, as well as something that seems to have been forgotten.

First of all, nobody seems to remember that Chocho is still petrified somewhere within Ryūchi cave. I’d love if she remained there for the rest of the series, because I really find her character annoying, but we’ll likely see her restored by either Garaga or the White Snake Sage next episode.

Or, if there’s simply a plot hole and she’s suddenly back to normal, I’d be fine with that too because it would entertain me to know that she was such a bad character that even those working on the series forgot to write her out of that predicament.

As for Mitsuki, I’m now thinking that he’s not actually going to be returning to the Leaf just yet. Instead, he’ll probably head towards the Land of Stone with his co-conspirators, and this will be our introduction to the Hidden Stone in the series, just like how the school trip introduced the Hidden Mist.

We’ve already seen the Hidden sand extensively in Naruto and Shippūden, and the Hidden Cloud to a decent extent in the latter, but the Hidden Stone and Mist were largely left out until now. So far I’m fine with how the Stone is seemingly being introduced, I just wish the Mist had a better arc.

Finally, the question the genin have been asking themselves ever since Mitsuki’s snake revealed its message to Boruto: just what is Mitsuki’s will?

I think that what Mitsuki meant by his will is the will of fire. For those who aren’t aware, the will of fire is “something passed down” from one generation of Hidden Leaf shinobi, and all citizens of the Land of Fire, to the next. It’s the will to protect their country and its inhabitants.

Since Mitsuki is technically from the Hidden Sound, he doesn’t have the will of fire, and so likely feels like an outcast in some way. Through his leaving of the village, I believe he’ll learn that despite not being born in the Hidden Leaf, it’s where his friends are and where he calls home, and so he still feels the urge to protect it.

I don’t know about you, but I think that would be a great conclusion to Mitsuki’s arc, even if it is a little on the “boring” side.

Conclusion

So what do you think about this week’s episode and the direction the series is taking? Do you think Garaga will remain as Boruto’s personal summon? Do you think the new antagonists are related to Deidara? And, what do you think Mitsuki’s will is? Let me know in the comments.

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